Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl - 3DShttps://www.gameinformer.com/games/etrian_odyssey_untold_the_millennium_girl/b/3ds/atom.aspxCommunity Server2013-06-11T12:40:00ZEtrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl Launch Trailer/games/etrian_odyssey_untold_the_millennium_girl/b/3ds/archive/2013/10/01/etrian-odyssey-untold-the-millennium-girl-launch-trailer.aspx2013-10-02T02:10:14Z2013-10-02T02:10:14Z<p><img src="http://media1.gameinformer.com/filestorage/CommunityServer.Components.SiteFiles/imagefeed/featured/atlus/etrian-odyssey/millenniumgirl/launch/etrianlauncg_610.jpg" style="max-width:610px;" border="0" alt="" /></p>
<p>Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl, the sort-of remake of the original Etrian Odyssey, is available now at retail.</p>
<p>Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl is available today on 3DS. You can read <a href="http://www.gameinformer.com/games/etrian_odyssey_untold_the_millennium_girl/b/3ds/archive/2013/09/30/etrian-odyssey-untold-the-millennium-girl-review-.aspx">our review of the game here</a>, and check out the game&#39;s launch trailer below.</p>
<p>(Please visit the site to view this media)</p><div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="https://www.gameinformer.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=4849585" width="1" height="1">GIKylehttps://www.gameinformer.com/members/GIKyle/default.aspxA Polished Remake With The Same Struggles/games/etrian_odyssey_untold_the_millennium_girl/b/3ds/archive/2013/09/30/etrian-odyssey-untold-the-millennium-girl-review-.aspx2013-09-30T23:32:00Z2013-09-30T23:32:00Z<p><img style="max-width:610px;" border="0" src="http://media1.gameinformer.com/filestorage/CommunityServer.Components.SiteFiles/imagefeed/featured/atlus/etrian-odyssey/millenniumgirl/etrianodysseyuntold610review.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<p>Etrian Odyssey IV opened its doors to a new audience by adding a casual difficulty mode to the hardcore dungeon crawler. Up until that point, only the most dedicated could survive the slow grind, vicious enemies, and mistakes that could cost them their life and progress. New fans emerged once the barrier was lifted, so it&rsquo;s no surprise that Atlus has remade the first game sporting the same casual mode.&nbsp;</p>
<p>What&rsquo;s most gratifying about Millennium Girl is that it does everything a remake should, offering new features alongside enhancements to dated systems. The final product shows Atlus listened to fan feedback, from the little things like fast travel between dungeon floors to the full story mode complete with cutscenes and character interactions. </p>
<p>While Millennium Girl beefs up the narrative, it still isn&rsquo;t a sterling mark in the world of RPGs. It suffers from the same failures as the rest of the series, where the story exists only to get you into the dungeon. At least the stock characters are gone; this time around, you journey with adventurers who feel like distinct individuals. That doesn&rsquo;t mean that these individuals aren&rsquo;t full of stereotypes though; for instance, you meet a young girl from the mythical land of &ldquo;Ontario,&rdquo; who loves her booze and ends sentences with &ldquo;eh.&rdquo; During dungeons, skits between characters play out; these vignettes are easily the highlight moments, since the main plot is full of generic tropes like amnesia. I just wish more of these appeared, as the character interactions show the story at its best.</p>
<p>For those who find it more fun to create their own stories and characters, classic mode lets players delve into the dungeon just as they would in other entries. You get the same game, but you can still build parties from the ground up like in the original. Story mode offers a narrative full of cutscenes, so classic mode is the better bet for players who don&rsquo;t want the characters getting in the way of grinding and exploring. The only other drawback to classic mode is that the new Highlander class, which combines heavy hitting and healing abilities, is only available in story mode.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The difficulty you select also impacts your experience. While the casual mode starts out much easier and lets you get your bearings, it is by no means an invitation to let your guard down. Part of the lure with Etrian Odyssey is overcoming the challenges of a harsh and uncaring world; escaping the ruthless enemies and unfavorable circumstances are impossible. Building my characters to meet this challenge is one of my favorite parts of the game. The skill trees are varied enough where characters can be completely different, even if they&rsquo;re the same class. Combat itself is straightforward &ndash; deep enough due to characters&rsquo; skills and abilities, but without distinguishing features to set it apart in the genre.</p>
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<p>Even after building your party to meet the outside world, Millennium Girl offers several enhancements to keep the sometimes-tedious elements to a minimum. Selecting a staircase in a dungeon teleports you to any level the party has already visited (instead of building long strings of arrows to automatically guide your characters). The optional auto-mapper removes the need to craft your own map on the bottom screen, so those without the patience can zip through without taking pit stops for cartography.</p>
<p>Other new features include Grimoire Stones, allowing use of skills outside a particular character&rsquo;s class, and the Guildkeeper system, which provides bonuses for a small fee. Both are useful, though I did spend more time beefing up characters&rsquo; innate skills rather than those offered by the stones, but neither provides such a large advantage as to be broken.</p>
<p>All of these enhancements still don&rsquo;t eliminate the grinding. I returned to the same floors of each dungeon several times, and they aren&rsquo;t varied enough to make repeat visits interesting. If I&rsquo;m going to spend an hour on level two of a dungeon, a change of scenery on level three would be nice. Etrian Odyssey also plays its classic mind games; I second-guessed my decisions at every turn, looking at every choice with suspense. Some decisions are simple, like drinking from a fountain or deciding to help someone. Unfortunately, the rewards (such as a slight HP boost) are never quite in line with the risks.&nbsp;</p>
<p>This was especially true with choosing to fight challenging FOE enemies. While fighting FOEs, other enemies can join the battle if they&rsquo;re nearby on the map and quickly overwhelm you. Clearly, Etrian Odyssey doesn&rsquo;t want you fighting them unless you&rsquo;re leagues above their level. It often comes down to rote memorization of the patterns they walk in the dungeon to decide which enemies to engage and when, so if you happen to take one step in the wrong direction, expect a game over quickly. Also, finding out that you&rsquo;re out of inventory space when you mow down a FOE also means another decision: what items to throw away. Returning to the shop to clear out inventory space (and then backtracking back to where I was in the dungeon) is a pain &ndash; especially when my party is still healthy enough to keep adventuring.</p>
<p>Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl has plenty of small enhancements (and one big one) to make things easier for players of all skill levels. That being said, the hardcore dungeon crawlers haven&rsquo;t lost their one-turn-you&rsquo;re-dead combat if they explore too far too quickly. It keeps the adrenaline high in battles and doesn&rsquo;t put your brain on autopilot, but at the same time, the series could use some refinements to keep the tedium at bay. Millennium Girl won&rsquo;t change how you feel about Etrian Odyssey, but it may open the door for further improvement.&nbsp;</p><div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="https://www.gameinformer.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=4822927" width="1" height="1">GIKimhttps://www.gameinformer.com/members/GIKim/default.aspxEtrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl Videos Introduce The Cast/games/etrian_odyssey_untold_the_millennium_girl/b/3ds/archive/2013/09/22/etrian-odyssey-untold-the-millennium-girl-videos-introduce-the-cast.aspx2013-09-22T19:07:20Z2013-09-22T19:07:20Z<p><img src="http://media1.gameinformer.com/filestorage/CommunityServer.Components.SiteFiles/imagefeed/featured/atlus/etrian-odyssey/millenniumgirl/ladies/etrianodysseyuntild_610.jpg" style="max-width:610px;" border="0" alt="" /></p>
<p>Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl is getting an official retail release next month, so Atlus has put together a series of videos detailing the game&#39;s cast and their assorted abilities.</p>
<p>You can check out all the videos below which showcase <a href="http://www.gameinformer.com/games/etrian_odyssey_untold_the_millennium_girl/b/3ds/archive/2013/09/09/new-etrian-odyssey-untold-trailer-and-screens-introduce-an-alchemist.aspx">Arthur Charles</a>, Raquna Sheldon, Simon Yorke, The Highlander, and the millennium girl herself, Frederica Irving.</p>
<p>Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl is a remake of sorts of the original Etrian Odyssey. It&#39;s available now to download on the 3DS eShop, and will receive a retail release on October 1. You can also <a href="http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2013/09/16/etrian-odyssey-demo.aspx">download a demo</a> for the game.</p>
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<p>(Please visit the site to view this media)</p><div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="https://www.gameinformer.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=4636964" width="1" height="1">GIKylehttps://www.gameinformer.com/members/GIKyle/default.aspxNew Trailer And Screens Introduce An Alchemist/games/etrian_odyssey_untold_the_millennium_girl/b/3ds/archive/2013/09/09/new-etrian-odyssey-untold-trailer-and-screens-introduce-an-alchemist.aspx2013-09-09T23:59:34Z2013-09-09T23:59:34Z<p><img style="max-width:610px;" src="http://media1.gameinformer.com/filestorage/CommunityServer.Components.SiteFiles/imagefeed/featured/atlus/etrian-odyssey/millenniumgirl/EtrianOdysseyUntoldArthur-610.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></p>
<p>Atlus is kicking off a batch of <a href="http://www.gameinformer.com/games/etrian_odyssey_untold_the_millennium_girl/b/3ds/archive/2013/06/13/etrian-odyssey-untold-the-millennium-girl-preview.aspx">Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl</a> character introductions. First up is Arthur Charles, the alchemist.</p>
<p>Arthur deals in elemental damage, with fire, ice, and lightning formulas at his disposal. You can see him in action in the video and screenshots below.</p>
<p>Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl arrives on October 1, 2013 for Nintendo 3DS. Pre-orders and first run copies will come with an art book and CD. A demo will be available in the 3DS eShop on September 16, 2013.</p>
<p>(Please visit the site to view this media)</p><div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="https://www.gameinformer.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=4351171" width="1" height="1">GIMikehttps://www.gameinformer.com/members/GIMike/default.aspxOpening Movie Produced By Animation Studio Madhouse/games/etrian_odyssey_untold_the_millennium_girl/b/3ds/archive/2013/08/07/opening-movie-produced-by-animation-studio-madhouse.aspx2013-08-07T21:40:00Z2013-08-07T21:40:00Z<p><img src="http://media1.gameinformer.com/imagefeed/featured/atlus/etrian-odyssey/millenniumgirl/movie610.jpg" style="max-width:610px;" border="0" alt="" /></p>
<p>Atlus has released the opening movie for <a href="http://www.gameinformer.com/games/etrian_odyssey_untold_the_millennium_girl/b/3ds/archive/2013/06/13/etrian-odyssey-untold-the-millennium-girl-preview.aspx">Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl</a>, which comes out on October 1 for Nintendo 3DS. The animated video, which runs at one minute and forty seconds, was created by the Japanese animation studio Madhouse, known for series like <i>Death Note</i> and <i>Trigun</i>. </p>
<p>The Millennium Girl is an updated version of the original Etrian Odyssey, featuring additional voice acting, animated cutscenes, redesigned dungeons, and a new story mode. The game will retain <a href="http://www.gameinformer.com/games/etrian_odyssey_iv_legends_of_the_titan/b/3ds/archive/2013/03/07/etrian-odyssey-iv-legends-of-the-titan-review.aspx">Etrian Odyssey IV</a>&rsquo;s casual mode.</p>
<p>(Please visit the site to view this media)</p><div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="https://www.gameinformer.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=3757814" width="1" height="1">MattAkershttps://www.gameinformer.com/members/MattAkers/default.aspxTaking Story In A New Direction /games/etrian_odyssey_untold_the_millennium_girl/b/3ds/archive/2013/06/13/etrian-odyssey-untold-the-millennium-girl-preview.aspx2013-06-14T04:48:00Z2013-06-14T04:48:00Z<p><img style="max-width:610px;" border="0" src="http://media1.gameinformer.com/imagefeed/featured/atlus/etrian-odyssey/millenniumgirl/EOU61061313.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<p>Etrian Odyssey has a following that has grown more with every entry. Reminiscent of an old-school dungeon crawler, right down to mapping your way through dungeons, the franchise has earned a reputation for being unforgiving and forcing you to patiently grind your way to victory. Etrian Odyssey IV shook things up, though, by adding casual mode, which made it so you don&#39;t lose all your progress upon death. Lowering the bar slightly let more players experience Etrian Odyssey and Atlus took notice. Now it&#39;s <a href="http://www.gameinformer.com/games/etrian_odyssey_untold_the_millennium_girl/b/3ds/archive/2013/06/11/remake-of-atlus-39-map-drawing-rpg-coming-this-year.aspx" title="bringing over">bringing over</a>, Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl, a new take on the first game with many new additions. Today I saw it in action. </p>
<p>Etrian Odyssey IV&#39;s casual mode is back for Millennium Girl and dungeons have been redesigned. But the most stark change to the first time is a brand new story mode with an overreaching plot. The series has always been criticized for its paper thin narrative and characters, but with a fixed party, there&#39;s more opportunity to develop a complete story. Untold has fully animated cutscenes and a brief glimpse of one in action shows characters investigating a relic and finding a pod. It opens, revealing a mysterious girl, who has apparently been asleep for 1,000 years. The scene looks like it came straight out of an anime. A part of me smiles because this is what I&#39;ve been waiting for from the series; something to make me have more of connection to the game with characters and story to keep me coming back beyond just the challenge. &nbsp;</p>
<p>While some features, like overworlds and airships, are absent in Millennium Girl, others have been added, like fast travel to different levels of dungeons. Previously, you had to trek through previously explored floors of dungeons if you left to heal. With vicious enemies roaming, it made exploring and staying alive difficult and made the repetition of the grind hit hard. Additionally, this time around you have a mansion for your guild headquarters along with a guildkeeper. If you complete quests for her, she can give you different boosts to help ease your journey. And if she&#39;s not doing a good job at giving you the goods, you can fire her and try out a new one.</p>
<p>Combat is basically the same, except in story mode, your party&#39;s classes are fixed (classic mode retains party creation). But don&#39;t expect a lack of customization over your combatants. Grimoire stones can be equipped on characters, providing skills and the ability for characters to use different weapons, For instance, you can equip a stone to give your healer the ability to also attack with a bow and arrow. These stones can always be synthesized, but you need to fuse three stones together to get a new, stronger one. This is where you&#39;ll have to decide if risking three precious stones is worth the reward for one stronger stone.&nbsp;</p>
<p>So far, I&#39;m impressed with what I saw of Millennium Girl. I appreciate that the developers are addressing complaints that have peppered other entries, like the minimalistic story and absence of fast travel. I&#39;m ready to step back in to a game that tests my willpower and mind. Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl is due out this fall.</p><div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="https://www.gameinformer.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=2991948" width="1" height="1">GIKimhttps://www.gameinformer.com/members/GIKim/default.aspxRemake of Atlus' Map-Drawing RPG Coming This Year/games/etrian_odyssey_untold_the_millennium_girl/b/3ds/archive/2013/06/11/remake-of-atlus-39-map-drawing-rpg-coming-this-year.aspx2013-06-11T17:40:00Z2013-06-11T17:40:00Z<div class="paginated-post" rel="2"><div class="paginated-post-page" rel="1"><p><img border="0" style="max-width:610px;" src="http://media1.gameinformer.com/imagefeed/featured/atlus/etrian-odyssey/millenniumgirl/EOULogo610.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<p>Etrian Odyssey fans don&#39;t have to wait much longer for a new game. </p>
<p>Atlus is releasing Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl for the 3DS. The game features two full-length experiences: one mode is a journey to uncover the secrets of the Yggdrasil tree; the other is a remake of the original Etrian Odyssey with extra mechanics and visuals on par with this year&#39;s <a href="http://www.gameinformer.com/games/etrian_odyssey_iv_legends_of_the_titan/b/3ds/archive/2013/03/07/etrian-odyssey-iv-legends-of-the-titan-review.aspx">Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan</a>.&nbsp;</p>
<p>For the first time in the series, The Millennium Girl will include a story mode using pre-set characters with their own dialogue and personalities.</p>
<p>Atlus also said The Millennium Girl will feature the same StreetPass options seen in Etrian Odyssey IV, so you should expect to trade guild cards, share party members, and give other players hints about the location of hidden treasure. With updated mechanics and a variety of difficultly levels, Atlus said it hopes the changes will make the game more accessible to new players.</p>
<p>Don&#39;t worry. A &quot;veteran mode&quot; will be available for those looking for a traditional Etrian Odyssey challenge.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Get your stylus ready. You&#39;ll have some grid maps to draw when Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl releases for 3DS this fall.</p>
<p><i>Visit our <a href="http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2013/06/07/your-e3-2013-news-headquarters.aspx">E3 News Headquarters</a> for all the stories from the show.</i></p>
<div><i>Check out the full press release on the next page.</i></div>
<p></p></div></div><script type="text/javascript">PaginateGrid();</script><img src="https://www.gameinformer.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=2974541" width="1" height="1">BrianAlberthttps://www.gameinformer.com/members/BrianAlbert/default.aspx